Imagining a Vibrant Downtown Experience for All

Help Sterling Main Street win $25,000!

STERLING, IL – Sterling Main Street is seeking the community’s assistance in their quest to win $25,000 toward its revitalization efforts in the “America’s Main Street” contest being promoted by Independent We Stand. Independent We Stand is a movement of independently owned businesses across the country dedicated to educating their communities about the importance-and the benefits-of “buying local.” IWS has teamed up with STIHL Inc. and FCA US BusinessLink to kick off a new contest to help one of America’s Main Streets and to promote the importance and strong economic benefits of Main Streets and the small businesses that help them thrive.

“$25,000 would be of great benefit to Sterling Main Street and its project list for improvements in the downtown,” says Janna Groharing, Executive Director of Sterling Main Street. “From our ongoing beautification efforts, to helping cover the costs of community programs such as Movies at Grandon, every dollar helps. Partnership and sponsorship contributions are down so far this year, so a windfall of $25,000 would be of huge benefit toward implementing our projects and events for this year and beyond.”

The preliminary round of online voting is taking place now through April 24th. The top 25 vote-getters will move on to a semi-final round of voting from May 2 – 29. The top 10 communities will then be reviewed by a panel of judges with the winning community announced on June 3rd.

Community members may vote once every 24 hours per IP address. For more information on the America’s Main Street contest, and to vote for Sterling Main Street, visit Sterling Main Street’s website www.sterlingmainstreet.org. A link is posted on its homepage for voting ease. Links are also available on Sterling Main Street’s Facebook page.

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About Sterling Main Street. Sterling Main Street, a volunteer-driven organization, is a nationally accredited Main Street program which utilizes the National Main Street Center’s Four-Point Approach® to downtown revitalization. This approach is based on a comprehensive strategy, tailored to local needs and opportunities in four broad areas: Organization, Design, Economic Vitality and Promotion.